Polymers of carbon monoxide and olefins generally referred to as polyketones are well known in the art.
Within this general class of polyketone polymers, this invention is particularly concerned with the sub-class comprising linear alternating polymers of carbon monoxide and at least one ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbon. This type of polyketone polymer is disclosed in for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,880,865, which is herein incorporated by reference.
Phenolic resins are very well known in the art. These are thermoset resins which are used in high-temperature electrical applications such as ovens and toasters, and as engineering materials.
Blends of polyketone with other polymeric materials such as polyamide (nylon), polycarbonate, polyester, polyacetal, and polyvinyl phenol are known in the art. Generally, these blends are immiscible thereby restricting manipulation of certain blend properties.
Immiscible, though compatible, blends are the most common commercially available polymer mixture. However, on rare occasions, polymer pairs will form miscible blends. The term miscible will be used herein to describe a mixture of two or more polymers that form a single-phase solution (solid or liquid) on a molecular scale within the amorphous phase. When one or both of the polymer blend components is capable of forming both a crystalline and an amorphous phase, then the term miscible refers only to the amorphous phase in which the separate components are capable of mixing on the molecular level. Miscibility can be achieved by selecting components that interact with one another in an attractive mode (e.g. which mix exothermically).
Several methods can be used to determine miscibility in polymer blends. For example, when a film is prepared from a miscible blend, it is usually optically clear, while immiscible blend films are usually opaque. However, this criterion is not useful when one of the blend components is crystallizable. The most commonly used criterion for miscibility is the existence of a single glass transition temperature for a given miscible blend. This parameter is relatively easy to measure for amorphous systems, and rapid if a technique such as differential scanning calorimetry is used. Greater sensitivity, especially useful for semi-crystalline blends, can be obtained when dynamic mechanical methods are employed to measure the glass transition temperature. As the relative proportion of components changes, a smooth change between the glass transition temperatures for the pure blend components and the glass transition temperatures for the various blends will be observed over the miscible range for the blends.
In certain cases, it would be desirable to produce a miscible polyketone blend. Such a blend permits the manipulation of glass transition temperature (Tg) and other dependent properties. Because most polymer blends are immiscible, the goal of producing a miscible polyketone blend is recognized to be difficult to achieve. Nevertheless, the need for such a blend continues to exist.